Although I personally enjoyed the movie as a "Family Movie Date Night", there were some obvious problems in the continuation of the story. We are supposed to assume that a lot of time has passed and Sawyer is now a High School student with an unwavering love and connection to both Winter and the aquarium. Of course, this is easy because the characters appear older. But, realistically, the cast doesn't gel as well together as in the first installment. Harry Connick Jr, Ashley Judd, and Morgan Freeman definitively take second place, maybe third, to the children and animals. What's interesting is the score underlining and highlighting the film. As with any film, the score is used to make the audience feel. Problem is, the music is almost continual and more prevalent than the dialogue. Forcing the viewer to listen intently to catch what's being said rather than stirring back and enjoying the film. When the score is absent, dialogue seems muttered and off time. The frenzy of a popular theme park and it's complications of day to day life show us how difficult it can be to care for these creatures. With the enormous amount of backlash aimed toward Sea World, it is surprising this film escaped the fallout. Black Fish was a heart-wrenching look at life in captivity. And it was through this scope that I viewed the film. It is truly unfortunate that the cast didn't retain its closeness and connection from the first movie. Attempts to throw in as many amputees as possible makes the film even more painful. We are living in Florida. Really just a short car ride to this park, but we've never been there. It might provide more insight for the films hurried nature. Mandy is our only hope. Having my own Mandi (with an i,thank you very much) made the film more fun for our family. But, even with the cute coincidence, it's a draggy film. Trying to fill in gaps while pushing forward. Contributing to the overall disorganization of the film. Should have let Winter come and go without trying to change the seasons.

I watched this off HBO GO over the weekend, having really enjoyed the original 2011 film. I must admit, I am a sucker for movies like this. The first film told the true story of that dolphin with the prosthetic tail (hence the play-on-words title- "Dolphin Tale"), named "Winter". This sequel tells the story of another dolphin at the hospital named "Hope". After Winter's elderly companion and surrogate mother, Panama, passes away, Winter's future is put in jeopardy, unless our heroes at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium team can find a new companion for her. The cast is great- no less than Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick, Jr., Kris Kristofferson, etc.. And I notice these movies were directed by Charles Martin Smith (who has a supporting role), who seems to have an affinity for wildlife films, having starred in the 1983 classic, "Never Cry Wolf", and directed another good companion piece outdoor film, "The Snow Walker". Well, if you're into these nature/wildlife wishy washy films dating back to movies like "Born Free", I'd say this is for you, otherwise, head to your local multi-plex and see "The Rock" fight an earthquake in "San Andreas"...LOL

I remember watching the first one, and remember being surprised at the bad reviews it got. I know this one will not win hardcore critics' hearts either, and might even empathize with them, but yet, for some, this is a mainstream movie that needs to be watched at the local multiplex, preferably with family.For those who have not seen the 1st one, what I'm about to cover might constitute spoiler territory for that one. For the rest, it should be OK. Since the struggle in making Winter swim has been dispensed with in the first movie, this movie handles the operations of the CWA, which rescues, rehabilitates and releases animals needing its care, in that order. It is a nice subject to dwell on, further enhanced by giving the supporting characters quite a bit of room to breath, while keeping a few others cardboard-like (notice the disservice done to the love lives of all the leads, and the plastic caricatures we are presented of characters inhabited by Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Kris Kristofferson - I can understand them wanting to be a part of this project, and I can understand the makers wanting the PG rating, but you can push your envelope just a tad in the interest of keeping things down to earth, no pun intended, since this is mostly aquatic). Which is not to say I'm nitpicking, since the antics of Mavis, Mandy, Rufus, Hope and Winter keep everyone entertained almost throughout that the afterthoughts that are the rest just remain that - afterthoughts. However, to me, that is the difference between a movie that just about does its job, and one that treads into the realm of TV movie territory, esp. one that suits Lifetime channel the best, or in this case, even Disney. A missed opportunity of sorts. There are some life lessons that are spread throughout, and that is where I think watching the movie with younger members of the family might just be the way to go, since there could be so many inspiring conversations one could have, about healing, hope, faith, willpower, success and the like, all of which this movie serves to highlight not just in anecdotal lip-service form.The number of times the various leads refer to the dolphins as wild animals, though appropriate, and kinda guidance-providing, belies the fact of how their characters treated the same animals with more empathy during the first outing. It's almost as if someone told them to be more politically correct, and they ended up toeing the line. One thing I did not notice in the first outing was that this one has been competently helmed by Charles Martin Smith, the 4th 'Untouchable', him of the infamy 'what happened to that dude who was in 'The Untouchables' while everyone else got famous'. I kinda dug the way he chose to let the story do the talking, and has shot this like he shot its predecessor, in a laid-back, unhurried fashion, that lets every frame linger on just that much longer, favoring long takes and conversations. Which is why his decisions wrt certain key supporting characters seem surprising in retrospect.The performances of the teen leads are muted, but serviceable. The veterans are picking up paychecks, but they're capable of so much more. As a friend of mine causally remarked, Ashley Judd was better served in 'Divergent' than by being in this one. Not their fault though - I'm happy they agreed to reprise their roles instead of asking stand-ins to do so.For some strange reason, they've not shot this on 3D, and have elected to release in plan 2D. While I am NOT a fan of wearing glasses throughout the running length of a movie, I thought that 3D enhanced the viewing pleasure of the first one, and this unexplained preference of 1 format over the other, while the surcharge can get some footfalls, escapes me still.All in all, worth that trek to the cinema.

Just saw this with my movie theatre-working friend. We both enjoyed this true-life sequel about Winter's acting strangely especially after the death of a fellow dolphin early in the film. Since Hazel and Sawyer are a little older and practically young adults, there's a hint of a budding romance between them though the main focus is on Winter and another possible new playmate named Hope. All the cast from the previous one is back and Morgan Freeman's character is allowed to say some witty lines that my friend found funny while I was a little amused at them. Actor Charles Martin Smith is the writer/director and he appears as the guy telling the Harry Connick Jr. character he has 30 days to fix whatever violations he cited. In summary, Dolphin Tale 2 was pretty enjoyable for a true-life sequel.